Anthony Elanga and Yoane Wissa scored second-half goals as Newcastle United claimed their first Premier League win under Matthias Jaissle with a 2-0 victory at Tottenham.
Newcastle have made a very promising start to life under new manager Jaissle despite seeing three key players leave the club this summer in former captain Bruno Guimaraes, Anthony Gordon and Sandro Tonali.
Jaissle’s men conceded a late penalty in their league opener against Liverpool as they drew 2-2 before beating West Brom 3-2 in the EFL Cup in midweek.
But victory in north London will have tasted especially sweet as Newcastle got one over on former team-mate Tonali, who left them to join Tottenham in a £100million move.
Spurs, beaten 3-0 by Brentford in their opener prior to a 5-1 win over Charlton Athletic in the EFL Cup, gave a debut to new signing Omar Marmoush following his move from Manchester City, though winger Savio missed out through injury having also made the move from the Etihad Stadium.
But it was another former City man, Newcastle midfielder Nico Gonzalez, who marked his debut with a key contribution as his wonderful pass helped tee up Anthony Elanga to open the scoring in the 62nd minute.
Ten minutes later Yoane Wissa doubled the lead with an instinctive finish to maintain Jaissle’s unbeaten start, and leave Tottenham with no points and no goals from their first two games following a big-spending summer.
Newcastle off the mark under Jaissle
Newcastle made a bright start and Elanga went close with a lofted effort across the face goal after latching onto the impressive Amar Dedic’s cushioned header from a Gonzalez pass. That would prove a harbinger of what was to come in the second half.
The Magpies continued to enjoy plenty of possession, but Spurs grew into the game and created the bulk of the better chances in the first half, with Newcastle often grateful to the reflexes of goalkeeper Lukas Hornicek.
Hornicek produced a flying save to keep out a curling effort from Mathys Tel, before Pedro Porro had a close-range effort brilliantly blocked by Lewis Hall.
Porro then lashed a swerving volley narrowly over the crossbar from the edge of the area, before Hornicek denied Andy Robertson at the near post and then thwarted Jan Paul van Hecke from the resulting corner.
Newcastle started the second half on the front foot and Hall curled over from long range, with Marmoush, who has seven goals against the Magpies in his career, then firing a warning shot at the other end with a very ambitious effort that flew wide.
But Newcastle’s newest signing made a telling impact as he proved instrumental in breaking the deadlock. Gonzalez’s superb cross-field pass was headed on by Dedic for Elanga, who produced an unerring strike on the turn that went in off the post.
Porro threatened a reply with a stinging drive that deflected over the crossbar, but Newcastle took command through a stunning piece of improvisation from Wissa, who met substitute Nick Woltemade’s header down from a corner with an acrobatic flicked finish from close-range, the DR Congo striker played onside by former team-mate Tonali as he doubled the advantage.
Tonali was subsequently withdrawn, much to the delight of the Newcastle fans, as Spurs threw on more attacking players in search of a comeback that never came to fruition despite Marmoush and Dominic Solanke going close late on.
